This work-in-progress comes from the depths of Unfinished Christmas Gifts. You know those projects, right? The ones you plan to start early when you're still full of that Holly Jolly Spirit, but you lose track of the months and it's suddenly the end of November and that handmade gift pile doesn't look like it's going to make the tree skirt that year?
Yeah, that's this WIP right here. I had every intention to make this baby blanket for my best friend's sister's second daughter for Christmas one year; I even planned out crocheting a block of blanket a day for it back in June... but that was in 2018.
Yup. I've let two years go by, and the blanket still remains A UFO (unfinished object). The intended recipient has grown beyond the need for a swaddling blanket now, but I am still determined to gift it to her, perhaps with a few more rows to accommodate those procrastinated years...
So whaddaya say: shall we dust off the project bag together to resurrect The Blanket from Christmases Past?
The Pattern
The pattern being used is free from Daisy Farm Crafts. Not only are her pictures gorgeous, but I fell in love with the gingham print and scalloped border on her blankets. She has other color variations for the pattern, too, which are just as lovely as the pink, like a gray or purple. Be sure to check her out to see for yourself!
I wasn't very creative with my choice of pink when I started the blanket; I mostly chose it because of the yarns in my craft stash at the time.
Yarns Used:
- Red Heart Soft in "Dusty Rose"
- Red Heart Super Saver in "White"
- Red Heart Super Saver in "Raspberry"
The New Plan
My last two projects of the series started from scratch, but this project, thankfully, is a true work-in-progress. If I were casting on from the beginning, I think I'd be less inclined to do this right now. But I have a great start, so thank you for that, Past Me! I will be changing up how I work on it, though, starting with expected rows to crochet per day.
I remember I wanted to crochet a full block of blanket a day when I started . That meant I'd be crocheting ten rows every day until the project was complete. I think I even had a personal deadline of one week for this then? I was quite ambitious about my crochet speed and patience with large projects in 2018.
I know myself enough now that I will not be crocheting a block a day. I am not speedy enough for that, nor am I patient enough, to be honest. There may be color changes, but the pattern is all single-crochet until the border. That can get boring quickly and make me want to drop it for something else again for two years if I'm not careful. I'll take it a row or two at a time instead.
Another change will be blanket size. This blanket is currently sized for a baby. That was fine when the pattern was originally picked, but the piece needs more length now that the recipient is older.
The current blanket is ten squares wide by ten squares tall, or 33" wide by 26" tall. Crochet sizing charts say a toddler blanket "should" be around 40"x 60", so I'll attempt to add squares to the existing blanket to make it wider, and then continue building it up length-wise. I don't think I've tried grafting pieces together before, so here's hoping it works!
Another thing to note is that I'll be crocheting this while tackling other projects from my WIP list at the same time. I will keep y'all updated about the blanket's progress toward the beginning or the end of newer "What's My WIP?" blog posts, as well as on Instagram, though. That way, y'all get a break from yarn-related projects for a while, and I still get to work on it without devoting another post to it 'til reveal time.
I hope y'all are keeping well and safe!
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